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Fire chief: Clendenin flooding death toll could have been way worse

CLENDENIN, W.Va. — The Clendenin fire chief says historic flooding last week in the eastern Kanawha County town could have seen a higher death toll.

“We lost six folks and that is tragic. Anytime you lose one, that’s tragic,” said Kevin Clendenin. “To lose six…to be honest with you Friday if you’d asked me I would have told you it was going to go up because there were so many places I hadn’t gotten to check yet.”

Clendenin said that the Elk River just kept rising to unprecedented levels.

“Our teams got separated on either side of the river. We kept seeing different landmarks that we’ve seen in the past since 1997,” he said. “When it passed the ’97 flood, I knew that we had a new deal. I kept wondering when it was going to stop.”

He estimated that several hundred rescues had been made by rescue squads.

“People in this area are resilient. I believe we’ll see some leave and most stay,” he said of the aftermath of the flooding. “It’s home, and people in this region like the state, where their home is. I believe we’ll see them rebuild if they can and just dig in.”

The six deaths in the flooding in Clendenin were part of a total of 23 fatalities statewide.





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